As speculation surrounding Verizon's iPhone reached a fevered pitch, the Wall Street Journal has confidently announced that the carrier has finally landed Apple's iPhone.

The report said the new deal will "upend the balance of power in the industry, ending Verizon rival AT&T Inc.'s exclusive hold on the device and leaving smaller players like Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA facing two well-capitalized competitors offering the world's most popular smartphone."

Citing "people familiar with the matter," the report said that while "it wasn't immediately clear when Verison would have the devices in its stores," the carrier would be announcing details in its press conference scheduled for next Tuesday in New York.

It also said the device "would be similar to the existing iPhone 4, but run on the carrier's CDMA technology." Verizon made a big splash at CES surrounding its "4G" LTE deployment plans, but that new network won't be available for voice calls until 2012.

Impact on AT&T, other US carriers

The report noted that Apple's exclusive deal with AT&T, which started in 2007, "has fueled much of the carrier's subscriber growth and has given it a solid lead in smartphone customers."

Additionally, it noted that "the arrangement between Apple and AT&T was groundbreaking at a time when carriers tightly controlled the appearance and function of their phones, and put Silicon Valley companies like Apple and Google in the wireless industry's driver's seat."

At the same time, while "Apple feels it has had tremendous success through its exclusive relationship with AT&T," the report stated, "it recognized that it needs to partner with Verizon to grow sales faster in the US." A note filed by analyst Shaw Wu of Kaufman Bros in December said the carrier was "still excited" about launching Apple's iPhone early next year "to combat slowing Android momentum in the US."

Verizon has partnered with HTC and Motorola over the last year to promote Android phones in a hedge bet against BlackBerry's inability to deliver a worth competitor to the iPhone. However, the carrier has since seen a drop in Android interest with the arrival of iPhone 4.

Despite its "Droid" branded push in 2010, "Top Verizon executives have continued to meet regularly with their counterparts at Apple, however" the report noted, "and have long expressed interest in carrying the iPhone, which could help add to the carrier's base of 93 million subscribers."

AT&T has braced itself for the loss in iPhone exclusivity that it has seen coming for some time, working to lock existing iPhone 4 buyers into two year contracts and relying upon family and business plans that make it hard for individuals to leave the carrier.

Other US carriers may be hit harder, including T-Mobile and Sprint, neither of which are expected to gain access to iPhone sales, even though the new CDMA iPhone should work on Sprint's network, and the existing iPhone 4 can work on T-Mobile's, albeit limited to the much slower, 2G GSM/EDGE service.

The big event

The report noted that Verizon's iPhone launch event "threatens to overshadow Verizon's keynote address Thursday at the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas, where the carrier touted its new 4G network and announced a number of Google-powered phones and tablet PCs designed to make use of the network's capabilities."

Verizon has invited Mac journalists to the event but has notably excluded Gizmodo staff from its invitation list, a move that all but confirmed that the event involved Apple.

This week, AppleInsider was first to report that Apple had been quietly restricting employee vacations at the end of January and in early February.

On Friday, another rumor surfaced, suggesting that Apple could have a major product launch scheduled for Feb. 3.

It's been an exhausting wait. It now seems finally Iphone will show the naysayers that it will be much preferred over Android. The simplest choice will be the best choice. I hope they price it right. What will be interesting is what they put Data and Text Msg at.

I really do wonder now what this will mean for T-Mobile and Sprint. I'm with Sprint now and planning on switching to Verizon either way most likely, but it only makes sense to me that if they're going to open the device up, then they'd open it up to Sprint at least as they wouldn't have to tweak the Verizon iPhone. T-Mobile would be a big more difficult given the nature of their 3G, but at least with the next generation, I would imagine that they'd be able to work T-Mobile in on the GSM iPhone fine.

As great as it will be to have the iPhone on Verizon, there are still a lot of interesting questions worth wondering about. I'm half-tempted to buy a Verizon iPhone 4 outright and not sign a contract and see what happens this summer before upgrading to the 5th generation model.

I really do wonder now what this will mean for T-Mobile and Sprint. I'm with Sprint now and planning on switching to Verizon either way most likely, but it only makes sense to me that if they're going to open the device up, then they'd open it up to Sprint at least as they wouldn't have to tweak the Verizon iPhone. T-Mobile would be a big more difficult given the nature of their 3G, but at least with the next generation, I would imagine that they'd be able to work T-Mobile in on the GSM iPhone fine.

As great as it will be to have the iPhone on Verizon, there are still a lot of interesting questions worth wondering about. I'm half-tempted to buy a Verizon iPhone 4 outright and not sign a contract and see what happens this summer before upgrading to the 5th generation model.

Isn't getting it on TMob now just a matter of a difference in frequency than AT&T?

"My 8th grade math teacher once said: "You can't help it if you're dumb, you are born that way. But stupid is self inflicted."" -Hiro.

So let's see how fast it will be jb'd and unlocked to be placed on Sprint, MetroPCS, Cricket and other CDMA carriers. As for me, I am sticking with AT&T. I am happy with their data speeds and overall reliability in Houston.

Where are all of the posters who said that Apple would never stoop to putting the iPhone on an obsolete technology like CDMA? Come on guys, chime in. One last chance....

Also one last chance for you to be wrong. Neither camp knows anything. Don't be a fool.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tulkas

Isn't getting it on TMob now just a matter of a difference in frequency than AT&T?

3G, yes. Everything else already works.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghostface147

So let's see how fast it will be jb'd and unlocked to be placed on Sprint, MetroPCS, Cricket and other CDMA carriers. As for me, I am sticking with AT&T. I am happy with their data speeds and overall reliability in Houston.

Ask your current CDMA carrier if they'll take a phone from someone else. Likely not. You can't just pop a SIM.

I really do wonder now what this will mean for T-Mobile and Sprint. I'm with Sprint now and planning on switching to Verizon either way most likely, but it only makes sense to me that if they're going to open the device up, then they'd open it up to Sprint at least as they wouldn't have to tweak the Verizon iPhone. T-Mobile would be a big more difficult given the nature of their 3G, but at least with the next generation, I would imagine that they'd be able to work T-Mobile in on the GSM iPhone fine.

As great as it will be to have the iPhone on Verizon, there are still a lot of interesting questions worth wondering about. I'm half-tempted to buy a Verizon iPhone 4 outright and not sign a contract and see what happens this summer before upgrading to the 5th generation model.

T-Mobile USA wouldnt be hard. All it needs is the 1700MHz AWS radio. The iPhone 4 GSM has 5 bands, only 4 are currently in use. It wouldnt be hard for Apple to replace that unused band with the AWS band or add it. The cost would be negligible per unit. Sprint would be an easy add, too.

However, Apple likely has some contract with Verizon to be the 2nd US carrier or only CDMA carrier in the US for x-duration. Also, With a 100M subscribers and a likelihood of huge sales based on Verizons demographics I suspect that Apple will be selling so many more iPhones that demand will once again exceed supply that would make other US carriers a moot point, especially after the iPhone 5 is released.

IIRC the iPhone 4 was released to 5 countries at once. The year before to 17. If that number dont increase or if the iPhone 5 CDMA is offset from the iPhone 5 GSM release that could be seen as evidence of Apple already producing as fast as they can. Therefore, I think a year or two might be best for the other carriers in the US.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

T-Mobile USA wouldnt be hard. All it needs is the 1700MHz AWS radio. The iPhone 4 GSM has 5 bands, only 4 are currently in use. It wouldnt be hard for Apple to replace that unused band with the AWS band or add it. The cost would be negligible per unit. Sprint would be an easy add, too.

I wonder if they could do that with a firmware update and if it could, would they or would they require a purchase of a new phone with support baked in.

"My 8th grade math teacher once said: "You can't help it if you're dumb, you are born that way. But stupid is self inflicted."" -Hiro.

I think this year is going to be crazy. Apple has 5 product lines now (iPod, iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV) and they're likely to update all of them. They've also got OS X 10.7 Lion coming and no doubt iOS 5 too. It's going to be announcements and product launches all year long.

T-Mobile USA wouldnt be hard. All it needs is the 1700MHz AWS radio. The iPhone 4 GSM has 5 bands, only 4 are currently in use. It wouldnt be hard for Apple to replace that unused band with the AWS band or add it. The cost would be negligible per unit. Sprint would be an easy add, too.

However, Apple likely has some contract with Verizon to be the 2nd US carrier or only CDMA carrier in the US for x-duration. Also, With a 100M subscribers and a likelihood of huge sales based on Verizons demographics I suspect that Apple will be selling so many more iPhones that demand will once again exceed supply that would make other US carriers a moot point, especially after the iPhone 5 is released.

IIRC the iPhone 4 was released to 5 countries at once. The year before to 17. If that number dont increase or if the iPhone 5 CDMA is offset from the iPhone 5 GSM release that could be seen as evidence of Apple already producing as fast as they can. Therefore, I think a year or two might be best for the other carriers in the US.

Although T-Mobile does seem like a very logical addition since people in the USA have been unlocking it to them from the very first iPhone, there are some limitations when one compares what an iPhone on T-Mobile can perform all of the same things that an iPhone on ATT can do. From what some T-Mobile employees have told me, the addition of the 1700MHz AWS would require both a hardware addition and a software fix. T-Mobile has surprisingly for some reason chose not to participate in bid for the 700MHz spectrum; and this to me seems that they will not get the iPhone until their 4G LTE is on it. "http://www.rcrwireless.com/ARTICLE/20100318/CARRIERS/100319905/t-mobile-usa-open-to-spectrum-possibilities". It is good to see that they are taking the same upgrade path to LTE like ATT using HSPA+ as an intermediary; but hopefully they will be smarter to participate in the next bid for the 700MHz spectrum as the FCC will auction more on July 19. "http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/12/15/fcc.holding.second.700mhz.auctiion.july.19/".
As for getting the iPhone on Sprint, that would be a harder task since they are using a different 4G technology altogether. Sprint would have to change or add LTE as well as bid on July 19 for some of the 700MHz band before being considered as a next carrier.

I am really curious how long the Verizon semi-exclusive is. Even if production capacities prevent adding Sprint/T-Mobile, I'd think that Apple wouldn't want to get sucked into a long multi-year deal. Especially when a carrier can decide that your product is no longer anointed (e.g, Verizon pushing Android at the expense of BB).

Although T-Mobile does seem like a very logical addition since people in the USA have been unlocking it to them from the very first iPhone, there are some limitations when one compares what an iPhone on T-Mobile can perform all of the same things that an iPhone on ATT can do. From what some T-Mobile employees have told me, the addition of the 1700MHz AWS would require both a hardware addition and a software fix. T-Mobile has surprisingly for some reason chose not to participate in bid for the 700MHz spectrum; and this to me seems that they will not get the iPhone until their 4G LTE is on it. "http://www.rcrwireless.com/ARTICLE/20100318/CARRIERS/100319905/t-mobile-usa-open-to-spectrum-possibilities". It is good to see that they are taking the same upgrade path to LTE like ATT using HSPA+ as an intermediary; but hopefully they will be smarter to participate in the next bid for the 700MHz spectrum as the FCC will auction more on July 19. "http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/12/15/fcc.holding.second.700mhz.auctiion.july.19/".
As for getting the iPhone on Sprint, that would be a harder task since they are using a different 4G technology altogether. Sprint would have to change or add LTE as well as bid on July 19 for some of the 700MHz band before being considered as a next carrier.

WiMax and LTE are very similar. I have little doubt Sprint will be LTE in the next few years when true 4G really matters. The switchover is very easy and going with WiMax which was already approved and ready for layout allowed them to get a jump start. They've already done tests in Phoenix with LTE and gotten 90 Mbps download speeds.

I don't think Apple will do an LTE phone until 2013 anyways. Maybe 2012, but a lot will have to change between now and then with chips and battery life.

Verizon and AT&T have the highest data charges. Apple would be much smarter to go with Sprint. Sprint still has unlimited data plans and can easily keep owning an iPhone under a $100 a mth, something Verizon and AT&T really can't do.

So why is next Tuesdays announcement of the Verizon iPhone a Verizon-hosted event in New York and not an Apple-hosted event in Cupertino? Heres my theory. Apple is fully aware that when they say Were having an event next week that people expect big news and a new product. If they were hosting this event, speculation would be rampant that it would involve a new iPad and maybe an iPhone 5, in addition to the expected Verizon deal. There is no new Apple product, though. We nerds know that a CDMA iPhone 4 is a different device than the GSM iPhone 4, but from a consumer perspective, its the same phone but just works on a different carrier. What would Apple show? What would there be to demo?

This is the sort of thing where Apple needs to play it cool, and act like this is just another carrier. Good news, but not big news. The bottom line from Apple is going to be something like, Were delighted to add Verizon as an iPhone carrier. Thats it.

He goes on to mention that Apple isn't leaving AT&T for Verizon, they're just adding a carrier, so it wouldn't be appropriate for them to seem to be validating Verizon as a carrier in some way.

Makes sense to me.

They spoke of the sayings and doings of their commander, the grand duke, and told stories of his kindness and irascibility.

Verizon and AT&T have the highest data charges. Apple would be much smarter to go with Sprint. Sprint still has unlimited data plans and can easily keep owning an iPhone under a $100 a mth, something Verizon and AT&T really can't do.

I think Apple is looking at the potential market size. Sprint has what - one half the number of postpaids?

Verizon and AT&T have the highest data charges. Apple would be much smarter to go with Sprint. Sprint still has unlimited data plans and can easily keep owning an iPhone under a $100 a mth, something Verizon and AT&T really can't do.

Sprint will be more than likely the last carrier to add since they have the least amount of news and rumors of them upgrading to LTE; they are one of the only carriers that I know that who is using WiMax while most of the globe is moving to LTE. It's a heck of a lot easier said than done when Sprint's employees and fans say that adding LTE to WiMax is not a hard thing to do. I guess we'll see when Apple announces a third carrier after Verizon starts selling it soon. T-Mobile is a better bet than Sprint if Apple decides to add the 1700MHz AWS radio band; with the current and past iPhones being GSM and the number of people unlocking them to T-Mobile, I would say that there is a good public demand to let T-Mobile sell it before Sprint ever does.

Sprint will be more than likely the last carrier to add since they have the least amount of news and rumors of them upgrading to LTE; they are one of the only carriers that I know that who is using WiMax while most of the globe is moving to LTE. It's a heck of a lot easier said than done when Sprint's employees and fans say that adding LTE to WiMax is not a hard thing to do. I guess we'll see when Apple announces a third carrier after Verizon starts selling it soon. T-Mobile is a better bet than Sprint if Apple decides to add the 1700MHz AWS radio band; with the current and past iPhones being GSM and the number of people unlocking them to T-Mobile, I would say that there is a good public demand to let T-Mobile sell it before Sprint ever does.

I have no idea how difficult it will be to move from WiMax to LTE, but a by-the-numbers approach suggest Sprint first: they have more customers than T-Mobile and, as you said, people are already finding ways of getting their iPhones on T-Mobile.

Sprint will be more than likely the last carrier to add since they have the least amount of news and rumors of them upgrading to LTE; they are one of the only carriers that I know that who is using WiMax while most of the globe is moving to LTE. It's a heck of a lot easier said than done when Sprint's employees and fans say that adding LTE to WiMax is not a hard thing to do. I guess we'll see when Apple announces a third carrier after Verizon starts selling it soon. T-Mobile is a better bet than Sprint if Apple decides to add the 1700MHz AWS radio band; with the current and past iPhones being GSM and the number of people unlocking them to T-Mobile, I would say that there is a good public demand to let T-Mobile sell it before Sprint ever does.

No need for rumors. They're already testing. You can read about it on Clearwire's own site. While they're not out and out talking about dropping WiMax, it has more to do with trying to manage the public perception. Both will likely exist on some level for some time as both have their advantages in different settings. They're also very, very similar. By the time it's a relevant discuss, the worst case scenario is there will be a dual LTE/WiMax radio just like dual band GSM/CDMA setups. I really don't think the 4G thing will be an issue for Apple for a couple more years. They'll wait for a better rollout and better technology than will exist in the near future. It's not like this iPhone or likely the next one will have LTE, so the concern in the near future is a bit irrelevant.